- Home
- Hansard & Papers
- Legislative Assembly
- 20 June 2007
Bells Line Expressway
Printing Tips |
Print selected text
| Full Day Hansard Transcript
« Prior Item |
Item 34 of 49
| Next Item »
Page: 1414
Mr RUSSELL TURNER (Orange) [5.58 p.m.]: Tonight I highlight once again the deficient roads we have over the mountains, whether that be the Bells Line of Road or the Great Western Highway. I note that with the inclement weather this week both roads were closed because of snow. There will be occasions during the winter when Victoria Pass, Riverlet Hill or Scenic Hill will be closed because of black frost or snow. This highlights the deficiencies and cost to freight companies when both those roads, which are the only access roads to the Central West, are closed. Whilst I welcome the return to normal conditions demonstrated by the reasonable falls of rain and snow this week, the weather has highlighted the deficiencies of those two roads. Because of their closure and the perishable nature of some of the products, numerous trucks were forced to go through Cowra, down to Yass and up the Hume Highway to get to Sydney. Others from around the Dubbo area were forced to go down the Golden Highway up to Newcastle and down the F3 into Sydney. That added considerable cost and time to those journeys.
I note that in the budget the Government has announced that approximately $54 million will be spent on the Great Western Highway. I have said on a number of occasions, both in Parliament and to the Central West press, that patching up the Great Western Highway is not the solution. That highway is not a local road and it does not properly service Blue Mountains towns and beyond. It can do neither job properly, yet it is being forced to do so. That $54 million will probably be wasted because the Government fails to have sufficient vision to support the Coalition's policy to build a four-lane highway over the mountains. Although such a measure will not stop the snowfalls, it will stop black ice and closure of the roadway.
I note that companies such as Electrolux in Orange have loaded B-doubles that will be in Melbourne, Adelaide or Brisbane in the morning. However, B-doubles are not allowed over the Blue Mountains. It is a ridiculous and embarrassing situation that in this day and age modern transport such as B-doubles are not allowed over the main highway from the Central West into Sydney. It is an intolerable situation that the Government fails to recognise, in the same way as it fails to acknowledge the accident and death rates on that highway, which has the highest accident and death rate per kilometre of any highway in New South Wales. The Federal Government has offered $10 million, to be matched by the State Government, to advance the engineering and design of the proposed Bells Line of Road expressway. Such a project is completely viable in engineering terms. The road would link up with the M7, provide fast, safe access to Sydney and promote tourism and population growth.
However, the State Government fails to acknowledge that people in the Central West deserve an all-weather access road in the same way that people in the north have a highway and people in the south have the new expressway. People in the west merely have the Bells Line of Road and the Great Western Highway, which has 80 speed changes between Lithgow and the Nepean River. Thousands of trucks travel along this road each day but they have to slow down to 40 kilometres per hour when they go through school zones. I support school zones, but I do not support them being placed on a major highway to the Central West. I call on the Government to show more vision and to support the Bells Line of Road expressway.
Last modified 05/12/2007 16:46:52 : Update this page